Earlier this year an appointee to the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission (PRC) acknowledged he had not met the educational requirements for the job – and actually resigned!
It was the honorable thing to do, but he didn’t really have much choice. Effective this year New Mexico has specific qualifications for its PRC commissioners. This guy slipped through the process. He did not have a college degree in a qualifying field, which is now required. According to the Albuquerque Journal, he will be replaced by a “seasoned energy professional.”
Despite this snafu, New Mexico is doing the right thing and following the lead of most states with bipartisan commissions made up of professionals with experience and expertise to do the important work of regulating monopoly utilities.
Unfortunately, that is not the case in Montana. We elect our Public Service Commission (PSC) in partisan races without any requirements for candidacy. And guess what? We have a highly partisan, ineffective commission driven by political agenda and graft. Our current commissioners wouldn’t make the cut in New Mexico or any state that sets standards.
Qualifications are critical to the job – and so is integrity. Our commissioners, all extreme GOP, have repeatedly proven they can’t get their ethical act together. Failed state audits, false police reports, dishonest press releases, wrongful terminations, threats of blackouts, etc. All on your dime – and it’s not stopping.
How do we know? They hired Brad Tschida as executive director.
There’s plenty of irony in that. The ED position was created in direct response to the PSC’s failed legislative audit. The stated reason for creating the position was to clean things up. Instead, with this hire, the commissioners made a mockery of the audit.
As recently as April of last year, Tschida worked to undermine Montana’s elections with baseless, persistent accusations of voter fraud – accusations that were proven false through an unnecessary recount. But now after disparaging our hardworking election officials with accusations of incompetence, Tschida will take a job – at a salary of nearly $100k along with a lucrative government pension – for which his searchable background shows no direct experience. Despite what the Commissioners say, his experience in politics isn’t what this position requires –it only serves to double down on politicizing the agency. So much for merit and integrity.
Worse yet, it’s the top job at an agency whose mission is to analyze complex data and facts on behalf of Montana ratepayers. Not a good fit for a guy who confuses his political agenda with the facts. Bad news, if you’re the ratepayer, but perfectly “on brand” for the current Commission.
The Montana Public Service Commission is broken. Many of you realize this every time you pay your utility bill. With these anti-government folks in charge, it’s true, government fails us.
We need to fix our PSC – and in Montana that starts at the ballot box. Three of the five PSC commissioner seats will be up for election in 2024. If you care about responsible regulation that ensures affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy for Montana families and businesses, let’s recruit solid candidates and fill those seats with capable, honest commissioners.
John Repke
former PSC candidate
Whitefish